They're all donkeys!
by Rusty Raccoon
Summary: Why did Jiminy leave Alexander and the others to live out their lives as donkeys with no apparent desire to help them?    What was Pinocchio thinking as he helplessly watched Lampwick meet the same fate?    This fic explores the possibilities for both.     Somewhat AU
1. Chapter 1

The so-called donkey scene in Pinocchio has at times, had people asking why Jiminy did nothing to help the other boys and why he didn't ask Pinocchio about Lampwick.

I was recently contemplating what Jiminy might have been thinking as he ran away from the docks after seeing all of those donkeys.

Some wonder why Jiminy seemingly didn't care about Lampwick and only seemed to care about getting Pinocchio out of there as Jiminy didn't ask Pinocchio about Lampwick.

In this short, I try to ascertain what Jiminy might have been thinking as he ran toward Pinocchio.

Note that this short probably isn't compatible with my two stories "A Donkey in Human clothing" and "So you can talk huh?" It deviates slightly from the movie continuity in terms of Lampwick's attire post change.

Also note that this is a bit darker and sadder in my usual fare

* * *

Jimminy ran away from the docks as fast as his legs would carry him.

What he had seen at the docks had horrified him to put it mildly.

The boys – all of them save for Pinocchio and Lampwick – had all become donkeys.

Even the idea of what had happened to them was terrifying. Jimminy wanted this to be a nightmare. He wanted to wake up finding that this island was nothing but a figment of his imagination.

The sounds – the smells – of the donkeys grew quieter as Jimminy put distance between him and the docks.

Knowing Pinocchio could well be suffering the same fate as those boys made Jimminy's stomach turn.

Jimminy wanted to believe that only bad boys suffered such a fate. He saw bad boys as already being donkeys on the inside and thus, their bodies changing to match their minds.

That one donkey that could still speak – his cries a sight that could well haunt Jimminy for the rest of his days –had been proof that even innocent boys that had made a mistake in coming to the island proved that no one was immune to such a horrible fate.

Confetti, candy wrappers, broken beer bottles, cigarette butts and other assorted debris littered the streets. All evidence of a party that would perhaps be the last time any of those boys would ever be happy.

Jimminy saw discarded clothing. There was a shirt, pants and shoes. He wanted to believe that some of the boys had become so drunk that they'd disrobed. He knew that most of those boys had in all likelihood lost their clothing as they'd changed in what Jimminy could only assume was a panic.

Thoughts of the sort of life becoming donkeys would doom those boys – Pinocchio included – to had tears threatening to fall. Jimminy swallowed hard and shook his head. If he was to save Pinocchio, Jimminy knew he had to stay strong. Giving into his emotions – ironically what the island encouraged – would only cloud his judgment and cost Pinocchio a chance of ever being a real boy.

Jimminy ran past an upturned ice-cream cone. It sat beside a coat with the initials JP engraved on it. Jimminy noticed the strands of hair – fur – by the cone. The boy that used to wear that shirt was a donkey by now. It served to drive home that these boys had names, families, friends and lives.

"I have to do something to help those boys! I can't just leave them that way," Jimminy said.

Jimminy resumed running, he _had_ to get to Pinocchio before it was too late, if indeed, there was still time.

Even if he saved Pinocchio, Jimminy wondered just what he could do for the rest of the boys.

If the island changed them into donkeys then he had to get Pinocchio off the island if there was still time. Escape however would mean leaving those boys behind. If Pinocchio changed as well – it was something Jimminy didn't want to contemplate.

Sadness went through Jimminy when he realized that his only real option was to save Pinocchio. Here and now, nothing he could do would save the boys.

Jimminy wondered if there was anything could have done to save the boys when they were still boys.

The boy's parents or failing that _someone_ had to have warned them about places like this and people like the so-called Coachman.

However, as with so many other boys that came before them and indeed, that would come after; they thought that they knew everything. In their minds, something like this could never happen to them. Jimminy knew the mentality; he'd seen it in Lampwick.

Jimminy wondered if Lampwick was still human. Anger welled from within when Jimminy remembered how Lampwick was leading Pinocchio down the path that on this island lead to turning into a donkey.

_If that Lampwick kid has caused Pinocchio to become a donkey…_

Jimminy did his best to contain the anger as walked by what was left of what looked like a bar. Broken bottles with traced of beer littered the ground. Pants with bits of brown fur sticking to them were further evidence of the boy's fates.

Growing up to be a symbolic donkey was one thing. When Jimminy had called Lampwick a jackass, he'd didn't mean it in literal terms. Turning into a donkey for real? Jimminy shook his head. The idea was absurd. And this was coming from a talking Cricket that walked on two feet and wore clothes.

The sound of braying kept Jimminy from further contemplation.

The sound of clomping hooves joined the brays. They grew closer until Jimminy could smell the creature that generated the sounds. He watched a panicked donkey turned a corner and run toward Jimminy. The donkey stopped when it reached Jimminy. It wore clothes that looked familiar. Those clothes were the jacket and shirt Lampwick wore. The donkey _was _Lampwick.

"Lampwick, is that you? Where's Pinocchio? Is he all right?" Jimminy asked.

Lampwick's panicked state had muddled his mind. He brayed constantly as though he had no real control over his actions. Jimminy could see the desperation in Lampwick's eyes.

Jimminy climbed onto the bar and then jumped onto the Lampwick's muzzle. His braying made it hard to keep his balance but Jimminy did his best.

"Damn it Lampwick, I tried to warn you," Jimminy yelled. "Why couldn't you listen to me while you still had the chance? Now look at you! This is what happens when you don't listen to your conscience! Why, if this has happened to Pinocchio as well, I'll – I'll…"

Lampwick's braying grew loud and he began to buck.

"Calm down, you need to calm down. I can't help you if you won't calm down!" Jimminy said.

Lampwick however seemed too frightened for Jimminy to reason with Lampwick. Jimminy wondered if in reality, this change had also done something to Lampwick's mind. For all Jimminy knew, nothing remained of the boy that Pinocchio had befriended. Either way, there was nothing Jimminy could do. Jimminy had to get to Pinocchio.

Lampwick resumed running, knocking Jimminy back. He tried to grab a hold of Lampwick's clothes but Lampwick's panic made it too difficult.

Only Jimminy's umbrella saved him from a nasty fall as he flew from Lampwick, who fled the scene and into the night.

Jimminy watched Lampwick go and could only hang his head.

Despite all Jimminy had said and felt about Lampwick, Jimminy knew that not even Lampwick deserved this.

Jimminy resumed contemplation as he resumed running.

Was this change – this loss – no different from growing up? Had Lampwick and all of the others in effect grown up to be donkeys? Had they in experienced the opposite of Pinocchio's goal? Growing up was of course something one did over years. With magic however, changes that required nature years could happen almost instantaneously.

Nothing about this change was in any way natural.

Jimminy badly wished he had the time and resources to help guide all of those boys from their current states as donkeys back to the boys they'd been only hours before. However, Jimminy knew that such a task would be a massive undertaking.

That of course assumed Jimminy could find a way to get the donkeys away from the Coachman.

Perhaps the current state of those boys was part of the problem. They'd become donkeys. Growing up was a process that gradually made aspects of being an adult not part of a child's' life very much a part of it. With no way to tell anyone the truth about how they became donkeys, turning into donkeys would make all of the aspects of being donkeys very much a concern for those boys.

That all one had to do was turn someone into a donkey to force the reality of donkey life upon said person sent a chill down Jimminy's spine.

"One's humanity ought to be sacred," Jimminy said. "This shouldn't be able to happen to anyone."

Jimminy knew that the only realistic way to save the boys from a society that allowed one to treat donkeys in the way society did would be to restore them to being boys.

Such a task was, like so much in life, far easier to contemplate doing then to do.

As he neared the pool hall, Jimminy thought more of the boys.

If they'd retained their human minds and magic could restore their bodies, this could be a frightening lesson but a lesson nonetheless.

However, Jimminy knew that if this had affected their minds more then even a little and if magic couldn't reverse the damage that they'd be facing a serious problem.

Jimminy thought of his goal in training Pinocchio to be worthy of being a real boy and how much work it involved and indeed, would involve. Even without magic altering their minds in a way one could not easily reverse, the longer those boys spent as donkeys, the more their minds could change to fit their bodies. Clothes made the man and the body was in a sense a form of clothing. He knew that the longer they wore those forms that the harder it could be for them to go back.

He knew there would come a point where only a donkey that used to be a boy remained.

Jimminy had heard of boys that slipped though the proverbial cracks to grow into men that were but a shadow of what potential they had. Some would argue that with help that they could become more. Others would often say that society simply lacked the time to help them.

Those boys now faced a similar situation,

One might argue that society could rehabilitate them if someone could restore their bodies. Resources however, were finite. By the time someone saved those boys there could well be a new generation of boys that needed those resources.

A sigh escape him. He knew that as horrible as it felt and sounded that he had to accept that at this point and perhaps from this point forward, those boys were going to be donkeys.

He prayed that Pinocchio had not changed, that it was still possible to save him from this terrible fate.

Jimminy wanted to cry for those other boys. If only they the time, the resources and ability to save them.

He saw the poll hall a short distance away. With a deep breath, he ran toward and into it.


	2. He was already a donkey

This was an idea I had to get out of my head. It's what might have been happening as Jiminy ran back from the docks to the Poll Hall.

Here, I try to address this with what Pinocchio might have been thinking as he watched Lampwick become a donkey.

Note that, as with the previous chapter, this is not compatible with my "A donkey in human clothing" story and is a bit AU from the movie.

* * *

Fun was supposed to be all right, wasn't it? Why build amusement parks, roll cigars, brew drinks and bake cookies or chocolate if some law forbade enjoying such things?

Pinocchio had been of two minds ever since Jiminy stormed out after declaring Lampwick nothing more then a jackass.

Lampwick was Pinocchio's friend. Yet, Jiminy was Pinocchio's conscience.

"Conscience; phooey, what's anyone need with a conscience?" Lampwick said.

Lampwick drank the contents of the mug he carried in a single gulp before shaking his head. He went back over to the keg and poured himself another beer.

"Damn beetle won't let us have any fun," Lampwick said. "You like having fun, don't you little buddy?"

Pinocchio nodded.

Lampwick placed his mug on the pool table before he picked up the cigar and took a long drag. He leaned over to line up a shot only to snort and stand.

"Damn beetle took the fun out of it," Lampwick said. "How can I have fun when I keep hearing that voice of his?"

"But Lampy, maybe there's a good reason he said those things," Pinocchio said.

"Do you wana work yer whole life?" Lampwick asked.

"I dunno, maybe Jiminy was right about some of the stuff…"

Lampwick growled before breaking the pool cue he held over his knee and discarding the pieces. Pinocchio wondered how Lampwick did that without hurting himself.

"Yer letting that beetle get to you," Lampwick said. He put the cigar down and picked up the mug before drinking the beer in a single gulp.

Pinocchio knew this was wrong. It couldn't be good to drink or smoke that much. Jiminy wouldn't object if these things and this place were as safe and acceptable as Lampwick said. Yet, Lampwick was Pinocchio's friend. Pinocchio felt that a friend shouldn't deceive another. Yet, both Lampwick and Jiminy couldn't be right if their views conflicted.

"But Lampy, he just wants me to become a real boy," Pinocchio said. "Why, he even defended me when I lied and…"

"When you got into trouble for lying?" Lampwick said. "We're not gonna get into trouble! The grownups can't even see us! What happens on Pleasure Island _stays_ on Pleasure Island."

"But isn't that like lying?" Pinocchio said.

"Not telling someone something ain't a lie," Lampwick said. "Come on adult have secrets, why can't we?"

Pinocchio looked at the beer and then at Lampwick.

"Come on, try some of that beer. It won't hurt you."

Pinocchio nodded and took several sips of the beer. It had a strange taste.

Lampwick walked over to the keg and filled his mug once again. He'd already drunk the contents before Pinocchio could protest.

"Lampy, stop, you're gonna get sick or something," Pinocchio said.

Pinocchio pondered running after Jiminy. Lampwick was telling Pinocchio to do everything that everyone else that wanted more for Pinocchio had pleaded with him to avoid. What sort of friend would tell someone to do something bad and then lie to cover it?

Perhaps Lampwick _did_ want the best for Pinocchio.

_Nothing but a jackass._

Jiminy's words rang in Pinocchio's head. Even if Lampwick did want the best for Pinocchio, he was starting to realize that the misguided path Lampwick had chosen was not a path that would lead to Pinocchio becoming a real boy.

Pinocchio didn't know to where it would lead but he knew it couldn't be good.

Lampwick staggered back to the pool table as his ears suddenly grew into a long pair of brown furred ears!

Pinocchio had seen ears like that before but he couldn't remember where.

"Come on Pinoke. You only live once and gotta have fun while you still can," Lampwick said.

Lampwick used Pinocchio's cue to line up a shot and took it as something pressed at the back of his pants before forcing its way out. It was a tail! Lampwick had grown a tail!

He stood and turned around. His goofy smile betrayed his intoxicated state.

Pinocchio looked at the beer in his mug and then back at Lampwick.

"But Lampy, you just – you just…"

"Made a good point? Of course I did," Lampwick said.

"Lampy, maybe we should get out of here before…"

"We're not gonna get caught," Lampwick said. "Come on Pinoke. You gotta relax and enjoy yourself. That's what pleasure island is all about. We can do all of the things we want to do back home but here, no one says anything. I just wish we didn't have to leave."

"I dunno Lampy, maybe we shouldn't…"

"Don't be like that. Remember those boys that took everything off and ran free? They were having a great time. Nothing bad happened to them! Here, I'll start with something like that but easier."

Lampwick sat on the side of the pool table before he pulled off his shoes and socks. He leapt off the table before making a few more shots.

"I kinda like this. Maybe it might be nice to stay this way for a while," Lampwick said.

Lampwick took another shot. From his movements, Pinocchio gathered the shot was a successful one. That or perhaps Lampwick was too intoxicated too care.

"But if you wana let some stupid beetle tell ya what to do, then go back to him," Lampwick said. His tail started swishing back and forth. "See if I care."

The irony that Lampwick was doing the same as Jiminy but for a different path was not lost on Pinocchio. However, he still wanted to think of Lampwick as a friend, albeit one perhaps in far more need of Jiminy's guidance.

"I don't wana leave ya Lampy, yer my friend," Pinocchio said. He stood up. "But that beer is doing something weird to you."

"It's doing something to be all right – it's making me feel great!"

Lampwick somehow seemed to get taller as a clomping replaced the sound of Lampwick's feet touching the floor. Pinocchio looked down to see that Lampwick's feet had become hooves!

"Lampwick, you're feet – they're…"

"Oh come on now! I can't even go barefoot?" Lampwick asked.

Lampwick took another shot before putting down the pool cue. He turned around and smiled at Pinocchio.

"You _really_ need to relax kid. Come on, take another shot," Lampwick said. "It'll help you to forget the stuff that beetle said."

Before Pinocchio could respond, brown fur overtook Lampwick's face, twisting his head into a brown furred head with a dark mane and light furred muzzle.

Pinocchio now recognized what Lampwick was becoming. His face, tail, hooves and ears looked just like the animals that had pulled the coach to the ferry that took them to the island. Lampwick was somehow turning into one of those creatures!

But how was this happening? More importantly, _why_ was it happening?

"But I think maybe Jiminy was right! Maybe we should listen to him so we don't turn into …"

Pinocchio stood up fast enough that he accidentally knocked over his beer, causing it to fall to the floor.

Lampwick – seemingly unaware of the changes to his body and intoxicated enough to find crabgrass hilarious – laughed for several seconds before a loud bray escaped his lips. He clasped his muzzle with his hands, holding them there for a few seconds before letting go.

"Did that come outta me?" Lampwick asked.

Fear started gripping Pinocchio. Lampwick braying made the reality of their situation even more evident. Pinocchio could only nod.

He watched as Lampwick felt his muzzle.

"Huh?" Lampwick asked.

He felt his altered face with his hands, making his way up to his long ears, before he pulled them down.

"What the - What's going on?"

Lampwick ran over to the mirror at the side of the pool hall. He screamed when he saw his reflection. Pinocchio could only watch as Lampwick panicked, running back and forth.

"I've been double-crossed, help, help!" Lampwick cried.

He ran into the back of the pool hall as though in a desperate search of something. When he ran back out to where Pinocchio was. Fear had gripped Lampwick almost to the point of madness, showing Pinocchio a far different side of the boy he knew.

"I've been framed!"

Lampwick ran over to Pinocchio and dropped to his knees. Pinocchio looked down as Lampwick grabbed Pinocchio's suspenders.

"Please – no, can't be happening, I can't be wrong. I'm not a donkey! I just don't want to school and all that stuff the beetle said! Is that so wrong?" Lampwick cried. "I just want to have fun!"

Fate it would seem had a cruel answer for Lampwick, perhaps the only way to show Lampwick the sad truth. Pinocchio could only watch as Lampwick's hands quivered and brown fur covered his arms as his arms became the forelegs of a donkey and his hands hooves.

"No, I'm not a donkey! Noooooooo!" Lampwick cried.

He stood up, both he and Pinocchio taking several steps backward.

Lampwick cried for his Momma as a final desperate act. The force changing his body continued unabated as it made the final cruel changes. Pinocchio watched as Lampwick fell onto what were now four legs and hooves. His body convulsed as it changed further so that his proportions and form were similar to that of the creatures that had guided the coach.

His cap fell to the floor before he let out a bray then another and then another.

Lampwick had become a donkey.

His expression betrayed his shock that not only were those sounds coming from he but that it was the only sound he seemed capable of whether by physical or more terrifyingly, mental limitation.

Lampwick started bucking wildly as the realization of his nature, the shock of his sudden transformation and knowing what it would mean for him drove him to madness.

Pinocchio could only watch as Lampwick galloped around the room, braying. Lampwick soon smashed the mirror before running a short distance upon which he kicked off his pants.

Lampwick kicked over several more pieces of furniture – sending a chair flying that barley missed Pinocchio – before fleeing the pool hall and into the night.

Pinocchio's mind reeled as he tried to comprehend what he'd just witnessed. Seeing his friend not only turn into an animal but reduced to such a panicked state was both sad and terrifying.

At the same time, there was a curious realization that came with it. It only lasted a moment, but a sort of clarity went through Pinocchio.

Jiminy wanted Pinocchio to get an education and rise above temptation.

Being a real boy went well beyond the form. Among other things, it meant overcoming ones more basic urges and to care about more then just the moment and pleasure. Pinocchio was starting to understand that being a real boy was a privilege he had to earn. There was no sense in him being a real boy if he only wanted the sorts of things Lampwick wanted. He didn't need to be a real boy to satisfy those desires.

Lampwick was an example of this. In a sense, Lampwick was already a donkey, even before he became one in body. Donkeys didn't drink beer, play pool, poker or smoke cigars but Pinocchio found himself understanding that they would if they had the ability and opportunity. Lampwick was what a donkey would be if they had a human form and understood how to do human things.

Pinocchio now understood to were such thinking could lead. A renewed desire to do right and earn being a real boy went through Pinocchio. But, was it too late?

Warmth and tingling went through Pinocchio's ears moments before he heard a tear in his pants. He felt what were now flesh and blood ears, but those of a donkey as well as the tail he'd sprouted.

"Oh no," Pinocchio cried. "What's happening?"

He remembered the things he'd done. Was he to become a donkey as well?

Jiminy ran through the pool hall doors moments later.

"Pinocchio," Jiminy cried.

Pinocchio ran over the Jiminy. "Jiminy help!"

"Lampwick he – he changed into one of those animals from the Coach," Pinocchio said. "He couldn't speak and he kicked and ran out and…"

Tears were falling from Pinocchio's eyes.

"I know Pinocchio. The rest of the kids – the boys, they're _all_ donkeys," Jiminy said.

He put his hands beside his ears, using his fingers to portray the image of long ears.

"You too," Jiminy said.

Pinocchio could only nod. Hearing and realizing that the reason all of the boys had vanished because they'd become donkeys only heightened Pinocchio's terror. He knew that if he was going to get out of this with any chance of becoming a real boy that he needed to listen to his conscience.

"Come on, we have to get out of here before you get any worse," Jiminy said.

He led the way with Pinocchio following.

"It's this way! Hurry, before they see us," Jiminy said.

They ran through the darkened park as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Wait, what about Lampwick?" Pinocchio asked.

When Pinocchio imagined Lampwick, he imaged the boy Lampwick was before the island's magic changed him in ways nature never intended.

"Pinoke, it's too late for him," Jiminy said. "Even if we could find him, a donkey can't climb and I don't think they can swim."

Pinocchio shared his revelation with Jiminy.

"That's the problem Pinocchio; we can't change Lampwick back into a human if that isn't what he is on the inside or what he truly wants to be."

Pinocchio felt a pang of guilt at knowing Lampwick's form and perhaps even his nature had seemingly doomed Lampwick to life as a donkey. That, coupled with seeing the island in ruins – perhaps revealing its true nature or at least the results of the lifestyle in which it tempted one to live – as well as knowing how close he was too becoming a donkey himself only served to increase Pinocchio's desire to become a real boy.

"I wish we could save him," Pinocchio said.

Pinocchio meant more then just from whatever the Coachman intended but from Lampwick's own nature.

"I know Pinoke, I know," Jiminy said. "But, we need to save you wile we still can. There's nothing we can do for the others. I wish we could. But it's too late for them. We _can_ still save you and we gotta while there's still time."

They came upon a rocky cliff and climbed it. As they neared the top, Pinocchio looked at Jiminy.

"You're going to have to jump," Jiminy said.

Pinocchio took one last look at the park.

"Pinoke, he chose to come here and he chose that path," Jiminy said. "Now, come on, we gotta go _now_!"

Pinocchio gulped and nodded before he looked down into the water below and jumped.


End file.
